Corporate Bonds - Article Archive

Virgin Media launched a refinancing of its $3.4bn senior secured term loan B, with a combined offering across sterling bonds, and euro and dollar loans. The move comes two weeks after Swiss telco Salt proved that bonds could price meaningfully tighter than leveraged loans for the right issuer, and Virgin also saw a strong result.

Alstom, the French maker of railway rolling stock, was the only high grade company to announce any corporate bond activity on Monday, as a public holiday in Germany and the huge flows of the last month kept the new issue market shuttered.

Suez Water Resources, the US subsidiary of Suez, the French water and waste management company, has issued $375m of US private placements, with the longest note expiring in 40 years — a rarity for dollar PPs.

Japan’s mature, growth-starved economy has little slack for its banks and corporations to enjoy. Expansion seems possible only through the pursuit of opportunities abroad, and as a result, Japanese borrowers are turning to the international market in unprecedented numbers. The global economy, which has its own problems of slowing growth, brings new challenges and opportunities. Lewis McLellan reports

An explosion of international issuance in yen is being accompanied by a re-evaluation of traditional routes of access into Japanese capital markets. Euroyen deals and Tokyo Pro-Bonds are rapidly establishing themselves as viable alternatives to the Samurai bond market. Tyler Davies reports.

German car parts maker ZF Friedrichshafen has closed its Schuldschein and agreed to take just over €2bn, according to market sources. Schuldschein participants believe this demonstrates the private market’s ability to compete with its public equivalents.

Zhongliang Holdings Group Co, the Chinese high yield property company, returned to the dollar bond market on Friday, adding $100m to its coffers in a tap of its maiden 2021 bonds, issued only the week before.

German car parts maker ZF Friedrichshafen has closed its Schuldschein on Friday, and is about to decide how big to make the deal. ZF's €2.2bn issue in November 2014 is the biggest deal the market has ever seen — but several sources believe this transaction may be bigger.

In the latest dimension of global central banks’ interest in sustainability, the Bank for International Settlements has established a dollar green bond fund for central banks' foreign currency reserves. The aim is to let them incorporate environmental criteria into reserve management without overly damaging the liquidity and value of their reserves.

Adani Transmission, the Indian power grid company, is marketing a debut US private placement, according to several market participants, who are watching the potential deal closely to see if it could spark a return for Indian names in the sector — a decade after it was burnt by a deal gone awry.

Cirsa, a Latin America-focused gambling company owned by Blackstone, raised new PIK toggle debt this week to pay a dividend, thereby derisking its initial investment — by selling bondholders what looks like a top-of-the-market trade. But the company generates plenty of cash, and investors showed up in force, allowing it to boost the size of the bond and associated payout.

Hong Kong Telecommunications (HKT) proved this week that investors are still eager to buy bonds issued by companies with a focus on the Hong Kong SAR, despite the ongoing political turmoil. But that confidence will face a big test as names such as Cathay Pacific and Li & Fung get ready to hit the market. Addison Gong reports.

Chinese real estate firm Zensun Group and local government financing vehicle (LGFV) Guangxi Liuzhou Dongcheng Investment Development Group Co have sold their first dollar bonds, but had to manage their expectations on a busy day for issuance.

Europe’s high grade corporate bond market maintained its steady flow of new issues on Wednesday, with Infineon Technologies heading into the euro market for a dual tranche hybrid, while BMW drove by in sterling and more names populated the pipeline.

National governments of the European Union have reached agreement on the law that will implement the Taxonomy of Sustainable Economic Activities, even though Germany, Austria, Luxembourg and Greece are unhappy that nuclear power has not been specifically excluded. There could be fights over that issue when the Parliament and Commission negotiate with the Council in a 'trilogue'.

Investors and banks are pledging right, left and centre to fight climate change. Good for them — but the economy must get to carbon neutrality as soon as possible. This cannot be done until banks and funds refuse to fund more fossil fuels.

Infrequent issuer Henkel made a decent return to the bond market in a dual tranche intraday transaction on Monday, with the chemical and consumer goods company shrugging off concerns about its longer duration tranche to print £750m.

DP World has become the third Middle Eastern borrower to launch a sustainable finance framework — a preparatory move ahead of a debut green bond. More issuers from the Middle East are expected to follow suit.

Natixis has become the first bank to introduce a green weighting factor to its internal capital model, so that the way it prices loans is skewed to favour environmentally sound assets and disadvantage polluting ones. The ground-breaking move brings to fruition an 18 month project and anticipates what some believe may one day be demanded by regulators.

Two Chinese companies tapped dollar bond investors on Monday. One of the most active issuers this year, Zhenro Properties Group, came out with an aggressively priced $300m transaction, while a district-level government financing vehicle sold its debut offshore deal.

UK tour operator Thomas Cook’s default could come close to annihilating the bondholders’ positions, leaving them only with a few cents on the euro, the liquidation analysis shows. The 178-year-old company tried feverishly to secure a £1.1bn rescue package over the weekend but collapsed on Monday.

Talks on finalising the European Union law to introduce the much-discussed Taxonomy of Sustainable Economic Activities are at a sensitive stage. Countries disagree on what the Taxonomy should be, and although a compromise position is emerging, issues including nuclear power remain highly contentious.